Lake of silence
by Cintamani
Summary: Kazama tries to find out the source of Chizuru's incomprehensible affection toward humanity. He runs into Okita as their kind's first representative on his way.


**Title: Lake of silence  
**

**Summary: Kazama tries to find out the source of Chizuru's incomprehensible affection toward humanity. He runs into Okita as their kind's first representative on his way.**

**Rating: K+  
**

**Beta reader: Makoto Sagara**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the series, or its characters, or the prologue's dialogue.**

**Author's note: I've started writing this one with a plan to make it yaoi Kazama/Okita, but I don't know if I'll have enough motivation to finish it whenever. For now, it's only the first chapter with a subtle slice of shonen-ai.**

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_"I'm asking if you have developed an interest in those humans."_

_"Not interest, just pity."_

_"We should not have any more emotional ties to the humans. We are here simply to repay the debt of gratitude we have to the Satsuma Clan."_

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It was a warm, cloudless night. Chikage Kazama stood calmly as he was musing under a huge sakura tree. The proud plant-living-spirit was shining with the full moon's blue celestial afterglow that gently passed through the flower-covered branches before illuminating the oni's silhouette.

He appeared lost in thought, so motionless he stood beside the tree, until he seemed to be an extension of the plant, or a nature spirit with the way the moon's powerful shining changed his features into something softer, ethereal even. It almost seemed as if he and the tree were made to keep each other company for eternity, until the wind blew his golden hair across his face, ruining the picture.

His crimson eyes were glazing with some unidentified emotion as they were still half-closed, which left one with the impression that he was angry, even though he was not. In reality, he had never felt any emotion which could be described in the terms of humanity's limited scope. The things he felt could only be described with their weaker equivalents. However, the one he felt currently was so far out there that the human emotional realm couldn't even come close. It was more like an animal's state of simply being. He just... "was" there. It was the "emotion" he felt.

And amongst of all the existing sakura trees, he choose for tonight the one growing on Shinsengumi's estate, which was now immersed in sleep. He was not concerned about his future relations with Chizuru any longer. She had refused him, and he had accepted her decision, regardless of his opinion about that. Even he knew that there was a limit to disdain. Keeping in mind her decision, he started to develop a little interest in the humans. What about them was so, so... just how? What was it exactly about them that was capable of convincing a pure blood oni woman to choose them -, _them,_ lower and weaker animals - above _him_.

Chikage Kazama really had no idea what could lead her to make a choice like that. He could not find any rational, or even an irrational, explanation. But he was interested in the possible answer, so he was trying to find out. Maybe he could "see" it somehow by observing these people, or... He was not sure how he was going to find it yet, to tell the truth. Having stirred for a short while from his contemplative state, he reached for the pipe he usually carried with him, lighting it before letting his body rest on the stones that lay under the weeping sakura tree.

Okita Souji was not aware that it would be him who would help Kazama to find an answer to his half-rhetorical doubts and questions, and even if he knew, he would not have been overjoyed. He had his own problems that weighed over his head; problems which were much worse than thinking about the potential ways of making a demon understand why another demon prefers humans over the demons. His life was going to end.

He never knew how long it was going to last. It could have been a matter of years, as well as weeks or hours. Time had long lost its meaning, even before he decided to become a rasetsu. Even though his leader, Kondou, had recovered from his injury, Souji knew as well as everyone that the next assassination was also only a matter of time; and having been seriously ill himself, his every thought about not being able to protect his leader and the things that he lived to protect caused his spirit to suffer, making it burn out just a bit more quickly. Thoughts like these were keeping him awake at night. This night appeared to just be one of those nights where falling asleep felt like it wasn't an option. After almost two hours of changing his position on his futon from one side to another, he finally gave up on the futile exercise and decided to step outside his room for a little while.

He slid the door and went off to sit on the stairs to relax. He was rather exhausted, even though he had spent all the day at Shinsengumi's estate with almost nothing to do. It seemed like lately his illness was capable of weakening his stamina even more than a regular, random fight.

Sitting comfortably outside, he leaned against the short wooden bannister while he closed his eyes to enjoy the night's air's pleasant chillness. Inside the blackness of his mind, where he'd been looking to cut off any possible thoughts that were haunting his mind and keeping him from sleep, he heard the certain voice, which seemed somehow familiar. He was not sure where he'd heard it before though, if he wasn't imagining it.

"Restlessness is a kind of poison, don't you think?"

He opened his eyes in an instant to see the voice's owner, which squatted a meter or two before him.

"You… 're… Kazama?"

"Hn." The oni smiled ambiguously as he instantly reached for his katana to block the stroke aimed in his direction. He was still squatting though. His smile grew even more, which from Souji's point of view it looked as if the oni was amused with something. However, it was hard to estimate what exactly it could have been. "So eager for a fight, even though you know you'd be defeated," Kazama eventually commented. He was still blocking Okita's sword, even though he could have easily forced it back anytime he wanted. He was enjoying himself.

"Better drop that glib tongue of yours; this time I'll win," Souji snapped back as he pushed forward his katana with a firm, violent thrust, making the oni blink in surprise. Allowing himself to be pushed back, Kazama used his second hand to support his own body against the ground, dropping his pipe at the same time. However, a split second later, the oni moved up that second hand to counter Okita's attack as he caught the latter's blade with a bare palm, yet without getting himself cut.

Having caught the blade, Kazama pushed strongly and brought it in his own direction and dragging its owner closer. He did all this so that he could eventually kick Okita - with more strength, thanks to his previously intentional move. Okita's back met with a wall, and he let use it as a support, which the samurai made the most of to not fall over onto the ground. He was dizzy because of the hit when he leaned his hand against the wall, and found himself an inch from the oni's body, which was hovering over his own.

"Ugh…" Okita grimaced, but he moved up his eyes to look at death in the face supposedly. Death's holder was not smiling now; his expression looked rather… impassive or unreadable.

At the same time, Okita felt as if one of Kazama's hands were tightly squeezing his wrist – making him unable to use his sword, while the second one, that the oni was using to hold the samurai's katana was pinning his other hand against the supporting wall. He wanted to say something, but his mind was empty, so he simply surrendered to the situation, having been ready to meet either his end or his possible chance to turn the tables; always allowing for both at the same time. His eyes did not met Kazama's since the oni was not looking at his face for now.

Ironically , the demon had a lot of things on his mind, and maybe that was why he was not looking at his opponent. However, he did not feel like sharing any of them with anyone, for now at least. Regardless of all that, he eventually stated,

"I won." The corners of his lips moved up slightly at the utterance, after which he disappeared from before Souji's body, only to appear a few meters away – prominently in the other male's field of vision.

"Damn… you…" Souji started to cough and suck in air desperately. Automatically, he put a hand on his own throat as if he was trying to free himself from his opponent's advantage. "If you dare to touch Chizuru-chan or anyone of Shinsengumi, you will have to kill me first." He wheezed as his hand grasped tightly on his katana's hilt, ready to continue the duel.

"I have neither an interest in Chizuru anymore, nor did I come here to fight." The oni threw his opponent a piercing glance.

"Interesting… Why are you here then?" Okita smiled nonchalantly, and then giving the oni a black look. "Does not a pure-blood oni like you have more important things to spend his time on than to cast it away in a random human's estate?"

"Hn," Kazama mused as he continued to pierce his opponent with his laser-like eyes. The corners of his lips were directed more down than up, which made him look angry, even though he wasn't.

After a moment of silence, Okita almost continued his inquiry, but Kazama preempted him. "Let's say that I've got a little interest in you, human. Thanks to, or rather because of, Chizuru."

Paradoxically, it was nearly the same case for Souji. Because of Shinsengumi's experiments with rasetsu, Souji's actual interest in the oni species began when he had been informed that Chizuru was the one of them. The warmth of her spirit was really unusual; so much so that once he started to think, he supposed that it might be because of her "upper" oni's spirit. After becoming rasetsu himself, he had a little more insight into the oni's realm, but to be honest only in one or two aspects connected with their psychical strength. Not that he was so interested that he thought about it in his free time or anything. He was a human and there was no sense in thinking how would it be to be an oni, but since the pure-blood oni general was standing just before him… His interest was a little stronger than usual. Moreover, Kazama was the first pure-blood oni he had fought with. He seemed oddly similar to a human, but on the other hand he seemed also very different from them. And he said that he came here because of his interest in the humans? Okita Souji smiled, unwittingly returning Kazama's amused air.

"Looks like she finds herself more comfortable with us than with her oni companions," Souji said at once, closing his eyes with a smile of self-confidence. He did not doubt the other male's words about having no intention to fight, so he situated himself again on the floor and stairs, visibly relaxed.

"But it's unwise," Kazama calmly stated. "And her potential can never be fully used if she stays with humans."

"That's your opinion… As for me…" Souji directed his sight at the shining moon. "Her potential is being made the most of every one day when she accompanies us."

"A difference of opinions, I suppose."

"There's nothing strange with the oni and humans to having different views on things. Wouldn't you agree, Kazama-sama?" Souji smiled to his unusual companion as he closed his eyes with a foxlike smile, allowing the oni to take a good look at his expression. Kazama surprisingly enjoyed the open appearance of the human; at least, when he looked that relaxed.

"Hn?" Kazama made a soft step in Souji's direction, and then he took one more, and then another, stepping more quickly so he could appear just in front of the other man. Cautiously, he joined him on the stairs, where he perched for a short while on the lowest part, letting his legs rest on the ground. He reached for his pipe, which he had to relight, causing the smoke's pleasant smell to emerge before it could drift away on the night's cold air. Kazama continued smoking while they remained silent, letting Okita - who was sitting behind and to the side of him – gain some time to analyze and observe the true, non-rasetsu oni.– It also allowed him to share with that true oni the state of simply "being" where no words are needed.

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Any suggestions? (Who would you like to see as seme here? if I were ever to continue this one it'd be good to know...)

Thanks for reading anyway.


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